The Legacies Only They Knew

Chapter 9 - The Ever-Changing Game

As Coraline walked back towards the Charms classroom, she noticed that numerous incantations for different charms had been etched into the walls of the Charms floor in gold, spells that she would hopefully start learning about soon. She continued following her Gryffindor classmates into the classroom and immediately looked around the room in complete awe.

The Charms classroom was nothing like the Defense of the Dark Arts classroom, as this classroom had tall arched ceilings, candlelight chandeliers, and more incantations etched into all of the walls. On her left was a tall grand staircase leading to an upper room of some sort, but the door was closed, so Coraline could only be left wondering. To her right was a long walkway down the middle of the classroom, with two platforms on both sides of the walkway and four desks situated on each platform.

Coraline quickly spotted Sammie sitting at a desk in the first row on the right side of the walkway, but all of the desks on the first row were already filled with students from the other houses. Sammie noticed Coraline's hesitation and realized that she had forgotten to save her a seat. She gave Coraline a small, sad smile and mouthed a silent apology for not saving her a seat. Coraline continued nervously looking around the classroom for an open seat but couldn't tell which ones were actually taken, with many of the students standing in groups chit-chatting with one another. Suddenly, a voice called out from behind her.

"Here - behind you," Coraline turned around to face a dark-skinned female Gryffindor pointing to the seat beside her with a bright smile, "There's an open seat here."

Coraline smiled as she walked up the platforms to the desk in the back row, "Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm Coraline, by the way."

"Hello, I am Natty. You must be the new student; have you met Professor Ronen yet?"

Coraline shook her head and parted her mouth slightly in order to ask what the professor would be like, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of a door closing and a throat clearing from high above everyone. At the top of the grand staircase that went to the upper room stood an elderly male wizard with his hands resting against his hips, wearing bright purple and gold robes, along with a matching cap. Despite the distance between them, Coraline was still able to take note of the man's graying, wispy short hair poking out from underneath his cap along with his neatly trimmed but equally graying mustache and beard. His arrival caused the many students standing at their friends' desks to scurry back to their own desks as quickly as possible, causing Coraline to easily connect the dots mentally that the elderly wizard must be Professor Ronen, the charms professor.

"Ahem. Shall we begin?" Professor Ronen questioned with a small sweep of his arms.

With a small chuckle, he began descending the stairs, "Welcome to year five of Charms. Now, this will be a crucial year in your education on the art of Charm work, but I am confident that we will take hold with the passion and rigor requisite of such a challenge."

Coraline couldn't help the large smile on her face as she watched Professor Ronen move about the room, clearly passionate about Charms and keeping his students engaged with his lecture. He moved down the center walkway with an almost skip in his step as he made sure to turn to face both sides of the walkway as he walked. Once he reached his desk at the end of the walkway, he turned once more to face the entire class.

"Before we begin, can anyone here tell me the difference between the incantations of the Color Change and Growth Charms?"

The color drained from Coraline's face, fearful of being called on to give the answer without knowing about either charm. Natty subtly slid The Standard Book of Spells, Year 5, across the desk for Coraline to look through, which she was immensely grateful for.